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THE DEMOCRATIC DEMONSTRATION AT POUGIIKEEPSIF. 

s p t: E c II 

or 

HON. U. )\. T. HUNTER, OFJLIKGINIA 



Fkllow-citizens: In response lo your invitation, I appear before 
you this (lav lo acMrr??, for ihf first tiim- in my lif"<-, a pojjiilar asscnihly 
wiilxjut the bfjrdtrs of my own State. 1 have rcfraiueei herelolorc, not 
from any want of interest in whatever concerned a sister Slate, but from 
a feeling' that it might .>(;cm an intrusion in me to ofler counsel to those 
who hail so many better advisers at JKjme. lint the present is no 
ordiiiarv occasion. We have reach(Ml, in my opinion, a solemn crisis 
in pubhc afl'airs. An issue has been tnade which may involve the fate 
of the Union itself. The public mind may be hurried to conclusions 
which may prove in the last degree mi-chiev«jus and danyejrous to all 
that American patriots and statesmen have bci-n accustomed to hold 
de^r. 

L'Yuler tliese circumstances, I had lilt that it was a duty which the 
Stales of this L'nion owe to each other, to interchange o|)inions fully, 
frankly, aiid {-aiKlirlly. For one, sirs, I should not be afraid to trust the 
decision of any j|uesiion to the people, if it cfiuld be f^iirl}' presented lo 
ihem, and when they are fully actpiaintcd with the real state of the 
facts, liut 1 fear that the Americau people are not acquainted with 
public senlimrnt in other sections than their own. This, sirs, is one of 
the considerations which has brDnqht me here this day. I wish to put 
yon in a stand-point, tVom which you may see the southern view of 
this (juestion, upon the other side of which you have heard so much. 
Lwisli lo make a plea in favor of this mighty L'nion, before it be furthf r 
imperilled and endangered. [Cheers.) I wish to speak in behalf of 
ibis gr(!at scheme of (jovernment which has contributed so much to 
the impntvcment and hap})iness of the American people, ere it may be 
lot) late forever. 

In executing this task I wish, as a solemn duty not only to you, but 
to myself, to spe.;k out fully, truly, and frankly. If, in speaking of this 
great question, I should handle topics (and 1 must touch themj which 
are delicate, and should perchance say anything that is unpalatable, I 
hope that much will be pardoned to the great cause I appear bt fijre 
you to advocate. I trust that no man will do me the injustice to assert 
that anything which I may say will be said in any other but a spirit of 
perfect respect and kindness to you all. Now, sirs, I need not say that 
this great issue is arising out of the disturbed question of African sla- 
very upon this continent. But how and by whom it has been formed 



. . 2 HM" ,>^^^' 

is a matter of serious inquiry. It commenced, sirs, a long time ago. 
It made its first appearance in 1820, when the c|uestion arose in regard 
to the admission of Missouri as a State into this Union. 

We are all acquainted with the results of that dispute ; but how and 
by whom these results were brought aVtout has been a matter of much 
difference of statement and representation. 

[The speaker was here interrupted by the marching of a procession, 
which had just arrived on the grounds.] 

As I was about to say, fellow-citizens, the mode in which these results, 
were brought about furnished matter for much contradictory statement.', 
It was settled upon two amendments, which were sent down from the 
Senate, one of which proposed that Missouri should be admitted by 
striking out the anti-slavery restriction, upon which condition alone it 
had been proposed to admit her as a State, and the other amendment 
proposed to apply this anti-slavery restriction to the territory north of 
36° 30' which had been acquired from the State of Louisiana. Upon 
the first amendment in regard to striking out the restriction, the North 
voted more than five to one against it, while the South voted in solid 
column for it. Upon the other amendment the North voted ninety-five 
to five in favor; so that it appears that the North did not vote for the ad- 
mission of Missouri in 1S20 without this restriction. Yet it has been 
represented that in 1820 there was a compromise formed between the 
North and the South, by which the North consented to admit her upon 
the condition that it should be applied, to the Territories ; yet the 
record shows that the North did not vote for any such admission at all. 

To show that the North has never been considered exclusive friends 
of that, we find that, in 182 1, when the question came up for the ad- 
mission of Missouri, Mr. Mallory, of Vermont, proposed that they 
should have this anti-slavery restriction as the condition of the admis- 
sion of Missouri. The North voted twelve to one in favor; and upon 
the final vote for its admission the North voted against it: thus show- 
ing that there is nothing in the representation by the leaders of this 
new party that the vSouth had violated a compromise, because the facts 
show that it never voted for the admission of Missouri without this 
restriction; for in 1820 the North made this compromise, and in 1821 
it clearly violated it and proposed to impose this restriction u])on its 
admission. But if you take it upon the true representation, which, 
doubtless, has been made to you before by the democratic party, that 
they voted for it as an ordinary act of legislation, this vote of 1821 
was consistent with that of 1820, and no charge of breach of faith can 
be brought against it. To maintain that they had made any such com- 
promise in 1820, as those who claimed to be their particular friends 
confessed, would be to fix upon them the charge of bad faith, when in 
the Congress of 1821 they departed from any such compronn'se, if it 
had been made. But in truth no such charge can be fairly made 
against them. They never did make such a compromise ; they voted 
for it as an act of ordinary legislation. 

Fellow-citizens — for 1 am indeavoring to show you how this issue 
was made up — the next thing which occurred in the sequence of events 
was the annexation of Texas. That can hardly have been considered 
as any sectional measure, when we come to look at the history ; be- 
cause the votes were given to it from all sections of the confederacy — 



3 

North, f;outh, East, and West— and it is to he remarked, and I refer 
to It in that conncxif.n, that, wlien it was annexed by the Vf,te^ of ill 
sections of the Unit, d Slates, a provisic/i w.-.s made exiendina the Vme 
of 36^30' t.) It ; when, .shortly alierwurd. th.^jucsiion came Jp in rela- 
tion to the annrxation of the lerritorv acmiir.d by them from Mexico 
southern men proposed to extend thai line. The (juestion had been 
setth-d hrretofon- by this mnnncr of compniation, and tlioy were will- 
ing that it should also Im? appli.-d to the lerritorv anpiind from Mexico. 
But the iS'orth refused upon this occa>i.)n, and a new principle was 
nitrfKJuced — namely, that of non-inlervention. It was established by 
the cornpromi.-=e and adjustment of 1860 and IS61. It was established 
that this principle should be applied, bv which the North virtually o,)t 
the wliohof the territory which was aecpiired by the Mexi-an coiices- 
sion, and all ihat the Sr.uth eaiiied was the declaration of an abstract 
principle, that Conuress would not interfere with the Territories. The 
North excludetl slavery, and it had no right to do so; hence the" South 
fell itsell to have been nppneved bv an adjiistm. nf which practically 
excluded ihem from the whok- .»f the lerntorv, and which .^ave them 
nrrfhiiiiT in ex.hange but this abstract decl;irati«'.n. ^ 

After ir had been acquiesced in by the whole country, then the Kan- 
f^ns and Nebraska Territorial question came up. We,* the South, said 
whal.ver rule you apply oucht t<. be unifortn. We are willincr 'm ex- 
ten.l the line to the |>ac,(i,;. Jf it is rii?ht in regard to the M-xican 
tej-ntory, it is als.) right in relation to the Nebraska question. Make 
vfnir aciion consistent and iinifbrm. If it be wmng. as vou asscrr to 
exclude a southern institution from the Union by a law'of Concrress 
hexc IS a case in which C« ngress has passed such a law. To be con- 
sistent, you must repeal it; in other words, that the principle ,;f the 
setilrment ..t 1<60 and Isol should be applied to this Nebraska act 
I he moment this principle was adopted it was denounced by the 
leaders ot the new party as a swindle upon the North. It was said 
that the South had violated a compromise with the North; and "not 
contented with that, they d.-nounced those noble northern men who 
<-hoPe to stand up in the viiirlication of the Constitution and the 
country— the men who vindicated your reputation fbr justice and good 
taith— who were not^omg less in sustaining your interest than they 
were in sustaining the Constitution itself— those men were denounced 
among you as being doughfaces and traitors. Statesmen, sirs, and 
patriots were tiiey all, and hist-ry will vet do them justice; and it will 
do justice to the great democratic party in having come fhrward to 
apply the principles of justice and the Constitution to the settlement of 
these exciting questions. [Cheers,] 

Sirs, the day will come when the future student of American history 
will look with amazement upon the fact that they had ever been 
charged with a departure from a compromise or breach of fhith in 
regard to these questions, and he will rank it along with tiie Pooish 
and other popular delusions. ^ 

The journals of the two Houses show that the North voted for the 
anti-slavery condition, which was said to be the condition of the 
compact. But they have an object in making this charge against the 
bouth, and against the democratic party of the North. They"'wish 
to excite odium against the South and our opponents, that, under the 



4 

fire of that excitement, they m^ght divert the attention of the people 
from the monstrous consequences of the principles by which the North 
was arrayed against the South ; thus sowing the seeds of bitterness 
between them. 

I wish to interchange sentiment and opinion with you in regard to 
them, because you may rely uponit that out of it will grow consequences 
which will seriously affect this Union. It was in the debate of 1S50 
that one of the leaders of that party declared, in regard to the slavery 
question, there was a higher obligation than the Constitution which 
proscribed it, and which must be obeyed in preference to the Consti- 
tution, — thus virtually declaring that so far as the South and its institu- 
tions were concerned, they could not be protected by any constitutional 
government, by any treaties or understanding between men, because 
they were proscribed by this higher law, and placed without the pale 
of human sympathy, — thus proclaiming that so far as the South was 
concerned, there could be no union between the free and the slave 
States on this su! ject. They could not enjoy the government of law — 
they would hold their domestic peace and property only so long as 
they had force to do it — that they would hold it only so long as the 
government might permit them to do. But this is not all ; for a doctrine 
so monstrous as this could not have attained assent for a moment in any 
section of the community unless they could succeed in making one 
section of the Union odious to the other. To do that they commence 
by denouncing slavehoh ers of the South, by calling them an oligarchy, 
and holding them up to public contempt. The fact that slave property, 
like any other property, was unequally distributed, was used to get up 
this excitement and odium against them, — was used for the utter prostra- 
tion of those institutions, for the destruction of their internal peace and 
tranquillity. 

Now, sirs, what could they expect if the power was placed in the 
hands of such a party, and the)'' were to get possession o( the patron- 
age and influence of the federal government? This was not all. 
These slaveholders were denounced as enemies of the human race, and 
ranked as pirates by the Christian world. Your own fellovk^-citizens 
were thus held up to the odium of the whole world. Outlawed under 
this higher law, which is to set aside the Constitution and all public 
laws and treaties, a doctrine under which it would be impossible for us 
to claim the protection of the Constitution. Is it not obvious, gentle- 
men, that to administer the government of the country u[)t)n any such 
principles as these, would be virtually to dissolve the Union, because it 
has excluded the South from all benefit of the Constitution ; it would 
be to proclaim that no treaty or understanding could be made with 
them, this higher law of obligation making it null and void. 1 know 
that it may be said that these are the doctrines and tenets of a sect 
which are small and extremely wild in their opinions; but, unfortu- 
nately, we have seen instances of the practice and theory of this prin- 
ciple. It was but the very last session that they applied this doctrine, 
when they proposed to let in Kansas as a State upon the Topeka 
Constitution. 

A convention assembled at Topeka, not only without the authority 
of the existing government, but in defiance of it. It had not the au- 
thority of the territorial legislature nor the Congress of the United 



5 

States, and undertook to apply for admission as a State upon the con- 
stitution they presented, which, upon its face, was not to be repenled 
for ten years. In this convention, which was not assembled according 
to law, or with the assent of the government of Kansas — a convention 
in regard to whose constituents we hare never been able to ascertain 
the number — a constitution was tiirmed and proposed to be recognised 
with the same party; and thus to admit the State — that is, to takt> in a 
State — and give it a constitution, not by their own action, but by an 
act of the constitution which should not be repealed by the Stale for 
ten years — thus trampling upon all notions of American sovereignty, 
and trending unto the ground that favorite idea that the people of each 
State had a right to establish their own institutions, and requesting 
Congress to recognise the action of a party in a State, regardless of 
the govcrrmirnt, and not subject to amendment by the people for ten 
years. Could they have attempted this, had they not supposed that 
the monstrous consequences of these doctrines would be forgotten in 
the anti-slavery excitement? The fact that those people had adopted 
an anti-slavery constitution must have been recognised without thus 
trampling upon all the favorite notions of popular soverei.gnty. What 
would be the effect of that [)rinciple upon the South in connexion with 
those dati'jerous and alarming doctrines thry have promulgated ? Ac- 
cording to that precedent they might assemble anywhere in a southern 
State and pass an anti-slavery constitution, if the majoiity were in 
favor of it, but they would recognise it as a State if the majority under- 
took to resist and put it down. 

[The sj)eak(;r was here again interrupted in his remarks by another 
procession, accompanied with bands of music, when he remarked — 
I am willing at all times to be interrupted by the music of the^ Union.] 

To resuine the thread of my disclosure, you will perceive that, under 
these doctrines, which they propose to adopt, a convention could be 
called in any of the States," if it happened to suit the advocates of the 
higher law doctrine, and overturn the existing government. When you 
come to take these things in their connexion, there could not have 
been a more fearful precedent. To show how determined this sectional 
party were to carry out principles which would confiscate our property 
and distm-b our domestic peace and tranfjuillity, they had nominated a 
candidate on the sectional platform. Fremont's letter of acceptance 
shows that he understood that, because he makes a distinct allusion to 
the subject of this difference, in which they have endeavored to get up 
a civil strife in the bosom of the slave States themselves, merely because 
that species of cause was unequally distributed ; so that we have a right 
to expect that if this party should get into power — we would have a 
right to expect from their administration — the whole power of this party 
would be used to get up strife within the southern Stales, not merely 
to set the black man against the white, but to sow seeds of dissention 
among white men themselves. 

We know that in the slave States they cannot effect any such pur- 
pose, for white men understand the vital interests of the white race to 
preserve the existing relations of things. But this party would be will- 
mg to use their power, if it should be given them, to effect such a 
result. Suppose that they were to elect a President upon such princi- 
ples, and that they were to administer the government in that way, 



6 

where would the South be placed? Do you suppose that they would 
agree to sacrifice their constitutional rights! Do you suppose that they 
would remain in the Union ! Well did Mr. Fillmore ask of the citizens 
of the States whether they would suffer the government to be adminis- 
tered, in any such way, It was an appeal made to the sense of justice 
of ten millions of people in these United States. Could the South con- 
sent to remain in the Union in which the Constitution was to be treated 
as null and void as far as they were concerned? It is utterly impossible 
that the government should be administered upon such principles with- 
out leading to the destruction of this Union. I want to ask you northern 
men whether there can be any consideration in the election of a sec- 
tional President, such as Fremont, to justify the North in imperihng such 
institutions as materially, politically, and socially affect the preservation 
of the Union ? 

Before doing that, permit me to show you that those doctrines upon 
which they are agitating the public mind and seeking to subvert the 
social system of the South would be as destructive at the North as at 
the South. I will show you that these doctrines can lead to nothing 
but anarchy everywhere. This higher law proscribes the institution 
of slavery and nullifies the protection of the Constitution, because it 
violates that cardinal political maxim, that all men were created 
equal. We all know that in European society there is a sect which 
has been agitating a principle that the possession of all property was 
a theft, and that ttie institution of property itself was against the higher 
law. They have said it destroys the equality among men; they have 
charged it with leading to the very evils which have been ascribed in 
this country to the institution of slavery. If you once agree that the 
institutions of society are to be overturned in this way, I ask, sirs, what 
institution is sate? The institution of property itself will be the next 
thing in danger. 

Let no man say that this is a weak and contemptible sect — let no 
man say there is nothing to be feared by this institution. We know 
that it was a powerful element in a late European revolution. Of all 
the wars that have scourged the human race, the most destructive have 
been the wars of human ideas. The next war of ideas in the Old 
World is to be between the social and individual government. This 
institution of property leads to a great deal more good than harm. 
Without it the poor would be poorer than they are, and civilized 
society itself must be dissolved. We know, from British experience, 
if the attempt should be made to dissolve the bond of union, the effect 
will be to drive the white man out, and leave it .entirely to the black 
race, or else we expose the black race to the contest for subsistjeiice 
with a superior race. 

The evils which have been attributed to the institution of slavery 
have originated from the fact of the natural disparity between those 
tw^o races, growing out of the circumstance that races so unequal 
struggle for their subsistence upon the s;ime soil. The institution of 
slavery did not aggravate them, but rather modified and mitigated 
them. Since the early history of man, not a nation of modern times 
did not recognise it by law until recendy. Nearly half the States in 
this confederacy recognise slavery by their laws ; the Constitution of 
the United States itself recognises it. If such an institution is to be 



7 

proscribed by higher law, what government is safe ? There are no 
men save those who live on their property that do not sell their time 
and labor for a limited time^ And once admitting that, it follows thnt 
there must be involuntary servitude. Every government and society 
recognises that servitude. If it is attended by evils, those evils are 
not dissimilar to the evils attending African slavery. But would they, 
on that account, allow men to get up a crusade against labor"? And 
3 et that is what abolitionists do in regard to the South. It was decreed 
by Divine Providence thnt man shall live by the sweat of his brow, 
and the best that men and governments can do is to make the most of 
circumstances. If the South, by the institution of slaver}^ makes the 
most of circumstances, were they to be denounced and persecuted as 
tyrants? 

The subject of disunion is one which no American approaches 
without a certain degree of awe, and long may that feeling remain; 
but have you ever considered well the possible consequences of disunion 
to the northern States themselves, and what it is you hazard when you 
endanger it? This is a subject which I propose presently to discuss; 
but before doing so, permit me to observe that the very principles which 
most expose the Constitution and the Union to such risks, would turn 
out in the end to be as dangerous to the domestic institutions of the 
North as to those of the South. If they should be used to overthrow 
the social system of the South, the plague would soon return to over- 
throw your own. An avenging Nemesis would present the cup to those 
who had brewed the poisonous draught for our destruction. If it be 
true that neither constitution of governments, nor treaties and compacts 
against men, can protect the institution of southern slavery, because it 
is proscribed by the higher laws of God, why is it so? It is so, as, in 
part, at least, we are told by its author, because it is contrary to the 
axiom that "all men are created equal." Equality is a fundamental 
condition of humanity, and slavery, or property in man, violates that 
law of the Creator. 

Now, here is a large and influential political sect, who declare that 
all property is a theft and wrong, and that it is so, because it destroys 
this equality, which is said to be a fundamental condition of humanity. 
To the institution of private propert}^ they attribute the startling con- 
trasts between the extrem-es of wealth and poverty we see around us. 
They ask how there can be either social or political equality between 
the very rich and the very poor. This institution, they allege, is the 
cause of the poverty, whose necessities, they say, lead to all the evils 
which are ascribed in this country to slavery. Whatever arguments 
are used here against slavery, are directed by them against the institu- 
tion of property itself. The higher law which condemns one, con- 
demns also the other, and laws and constitutions of governments can no 
more protect the one than the other, l^et no man say that this is a 
weak and contemptible sect. It has proved itself to have been a 
powerful element in a late revolution in one of the first States in Europe. 
The throbs and throes in the bosom of European society still show 
the workings of this power within. 

Among the w%ars which have scourged humanity most severely are 
those of ideas. Everything seems to presage that the next such war 
in Europe is to be one between the social and the individual principle 



8 

in governments. Those who now seem to be intent only upon the 
overthrow of the southern social system will inevitably inaugurate a 
similar strife in the bosom of northern society also, unless thev are 
checked in time. He who sows false political ideas in the public mind, 
is indeed sowing the field with dragons' teeth, from which are to spring 
forth armed men. If we sow the wind, we must reap the whirlwind. 
It is true, no doubt, that a great many evils are attendant upon, I will 
not say caused by, the institution of property ; but are we on that ac- 
count to destroy it? Is not the true answer to the objection urged 
against it, that much more good than evil is produced by it — that with- 
out it the poor would be poorer than they now are, and men would re- 
tm-n from civilization and refinement to a state of nature. Man would 
cease to be an intellectual, industrious, and progressive being, to 
become a nomade, like the wild Indian on the plains, and wander 
about in families or in hordes. 

Now, if this be a sufficient answer in the one case, is it not equally 
so in the other? If tiie white and the black, the superior and the in- 
ferior races, are thrown together in close proximity, we know that 
slavery affords the only means yet discovered which can secure the 
happiness and the improvement of both races. Without it the one 
would either disappear and desert the land, or it would exterminate 
the other. The evils which are ascribed to the institution of slavery 
arise really from the disparity in the natural condition of the two races 
which circumstances have thus thrown together. To destroy that re- 
lation would aggravate, and not diminish, these evils, so long as two 
such races were dwelling together. The same arguments must pro- 
tect or destroy boih. 

What more can be said for any government than that it does what, 
under the circumstances of the case, is the best for iis people. How 
many can make even this claim, or exhibit a better title to favor than 
the fact that it enables the people to preserve their national existence, 
and from time to time to improve their condition? 

An eminent statesman has said : "The rights of men in government 
are their advantages, and these are often in balances between differences 
of good ; in compromises sometimes between good and evil; and some- 
times between evil and evil. Political reason is a comparative prin- 
ciple — adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing morally, not meta- 
physically or mathematically, true moral denomination." 

Let us look now to the ground upon which the southern slaveholders 
are attacked as an oligarchy, and see how far these arguments may be 
applied to other social systems also. The census shows that slave 
properly, like all other property, is unequall}^ distributed, and that a 
majority of the whites in the southern Slates do not own slaves. Upon 
this slender foundation, the charge of oligarchy is made and proclaimed. 
Suppose that the census had been so taken as to show the number of 
persons in the United States who own more than $5,000 worth of pro- 
perty ; they would probably constitute a less proportion of the entire 
white population than the slaveholders as compared with the non- 
slaveholding whites of the South. The number of persons holding an 
interest in real estate in this country is estimated only at a million and 
a half; the number holding as much as $5,000 in property would 
probably be still less. When such a fact as that is shown, how easy 



9 

will it be to denounce those capitalists as oligarclis ! May it not be 
said that the real power of society is in these few hands? These are 
llie men who can establish powers, fee advocates, and wield the im- 
mense power which money gives. 

The owner of the factory, who lives on his capital, perhaps gets as 
much of the i)rocecd.> as all the li borers who work in it day, by day, 
and from mornin.a until night. The shipowner, who sleeps (juietly at 
home, probably divides equally with all the men who sail the ship and 
face the perils of the sea. This charge of oligarchy may be made in 
oiie case as in the other. Doul)tl( ss it may be said truly, in di fence of 
all this, that without the laws which encounige and protect the accu- 
mulation of capital, this vast framr-work of human society, wiih all its 
refinement and civilization, would disappear, and tliat, i)y such an event, 
millions of employments by which human beings subsist would be de- 
stroyed, and along with tlicm would perish liiose wiiom they enable 
to live. But cannot arguments of this nature be used to reply to the 
charge South as well as .North? If those things only issue out of the 
necessary constitution of society in one j)lace, so they do in the other. 

But, fellow-citizens, if under the sanction of some supposed state of 
the public opinion of the world, which has no legal form of expression; 
if under the proscription of some law, written only in the breasts of 
those who claim to reveal it, those ipstiiulioiis which are guarantied 
and recognised by the constitution and lawsof the government ordained 
by society can be overthrown, how can any government be safe, or 
any constitution be secured and protected, otherwise than by force? 
1 liii^ht have iiuiuired how the j)ublic opinion of the world is ascer- 
tained, which is said to proscribe the existence of slavery ; but I choose 
rather to examine into the allt ged law, to see if it may not .'ipply to 
institutions other than those of the South. 1 say 1 might inquire how 
this public opinion is ascertained, which is said to outlaw us, because 
it is notorious that slavery has been recognised as legal by the world 
during fir the largest portion of its history. As far back as human 
tradiiions go it is to be found. There is not a nation of antiquity, as 
far as we have accounts of them, which did not tolerate it ; there is 
not a nation in Europe which did not lay the foundation of its civiliza- 
tion incoi.-rced labor, or involuntary servitude. The time is compara- 
tively recent since it existed almost everywhere under the Javor of the 
law. The strongest nation hi Europe still maintains it; the Constitu- 
tion of the United States recognises it; the laws of nearly half the 
States establish it, and the highest judicial tribunals in the land ac- 
knowledge this law to be valid. 

If such sanctions as these cannot secure property and institutions, 
how is it to be done at all under the forms of law ? But what is this 
law which thus overrules constitutions and human governmenl ? It 
is a law which ordains that man cannot hold property in man, and as 
a consequence proscribes involuntary servitude. Fellow-citizens, what 
is property in man, and what involuntary servitude ? Property may 
beal?soluie or limited — it may be in fee or for a term of years. In 
practice one man may hold prr>perty in the services of another tor life, 
as in the law of slavery ; for a term of years, as in an apprenticeship ; 
or for months, weeks, days, and hours, as in the case of domestics, or 
mechanics, or lawyers, or doctors. In civilized society there is no 



10 

man, except in the rare cases af those living on accumulated capital, 
who does not sell to another a property in his services. This is servi- 
tude, and if constrained by the necessities of poverty, it is as'much 
involuntary as if it were forced by any other physical necessity. The 
evils which are ascribed to one form of this servitude are common to 
them all, and so claimed to be by this socialist sect of whom I have 
spoken. 

Are hard cases of separation in families to be found w^here slavery 
exists; do they not also occur whenever a man is forced by his necessity 
to sell his labor in the highest market ? Are many revolting instances 
to be found of the submission by one man of his will to another in the 
one case; do the}^ not also occur in the other? Whatever evils are 
ascribed to involuntary servitude in the one case, can be and have 
been ascribed to the other. Shall we for this reason proclaim that no 
man shall be allowed to sell his labor, or give a right of property in 
his services to another? To do so would be to destroy more than half 
the value of labor, and to rob millions of human beings of the means 
ol subsistence, and to dissolve all human society. Now, why these 
evils, or any evils, exist, it passes my metaphysics to determine. 
Why it was ordained that man should live by the sweat of his brow, 
or why the primeval curse was pronounced, I cannot satisfactorily 
explain. The most we can do is to make the best of the necessities 
which they impose upon us. 

These considerations justify the social system of the South as well as 
that of the North, Tu the South we refer proudly to the fact that the 
negro race has improved more under our patronage than in any other 
situation in which they have ever been placed. Our system of organ- 
ization has made the improvement of both races compatible with the 
peace and harmony of society. The co-existence upon the same soil 
of two races which differ so much in physical organization, and of 
which the one is inferior to the other, is undoubtedly attended by some 
evils; but these evils are mitigated, and not increased, by establishing 
this relation of slavery between them. The evils which are so often 
attributed to this institution are for the most part to be ascribed to the 
natural disparity of the races, and the fact that they are thrown together 
to struggle for subsistence on the same soil. 

Fellow-citizens, I have been thus particular in endeavoring to show 
that the application of these principles would be revolutionary in any 
system of society, because I firmly believe, that, if they should serve 
their turn in one case, they will soon afterward be used as the weapons 
in a general war upon the institution of property itself. However that 
may be, there can be little doubt, I think, but that their present ten- 
dency is to put in peril the Union of the wStates. Is there any conse- 
quence to flow from the election of a sectional candidate that could 
compensate you for the risk which you are asked to incur ? What is 
it that the North risks in the dissolution of the Union? I pass over for 
the present the loss of power, moral and political, that it would sustain 
in such an event as this. I ask, now, what would it lose in pdint of 
national wealth and resources? The expenditures of the country have 
probably now reached sixty millions of dollars, and the day is not far 
distant when they may amount to seventy millions. Of these the 
North secures by far the larger share of the disbursements. When the 



11 

army appropriiitlon bill was in dispute, an approximate estimate was 
made as tf) the portions which would probably be disbursed in the non- 
glavelioKliiiij; States and Territories. The result was, as well as I can 
recollect, that the propoition was somelliinu about lour-filihs, and in 
some of the other general a[)proj)riation bills their share woukl have 
been still larger. 1 do not pretend ii)at any accurate estimate could 
he made, but il was sutiiciently near' tor general results. 1 suppose 
there can be little doubt but that the tour-filths of the entire expendi- 
tures arc disbursed North. 

But it" wc t;ike population as the test of contribution, and altliongh 
not accurate as a test, it is nearly enough so to approximate to the 
truth, their share would have been about thirteen parts out ot* twenty- 
two, or something more inan one-halt'. Instead, then, of receiving the 
disbursrment of four-tlfilH of sixty millions, as prol)ablv they will do, 
their sliare accortling to the Ct)nsiiiution would have been little more 
llian thirty-five rai'lions. The ditlerence of twelve millions is what 
then they probably owe to the Union. Now, the constant dishurse- 
ment ot" twelve mUions per annum to any seclion beyond what it con- 
tributes, IS etjuivalent to «reating tor its benefit a United States five per 
cent, stock to the am<juiit of two hundred and tijrt}' mil. ions of dollars. 
Tliat this statement approximates to the truth of the case, I have very 
little doubt. That it receives much wore from the federnl expendi- 
ture than it contributes, if their coritribution is to be measured by their 
po|)ulatioii, I liave no doubt. The last returns of navigation and com- 
merce show the aggregate of American tonnage to be about five mil- 
licins of tons. 

If we take the relative population of the free and slave States as the 
mi'asure ot division between the two confederacies, the northern would 
l)e entitled to not quite 3,000, DUO tons. If we take the siatement in 
tlie census v)f the numljer of persons in the tree and slave Stales em- 
plo3Td in navigation, as a measure of the actual distribution of this ton- 
nage, tlie North has more than Jour-fitths, or something more than 
4,000,000. Here, then, are at lea*st 1,000,000 of tonnage for wliich 
»lie is indebted to the Union. In the censu* tai)le, the product of manu- 
factures, mining, and the mechanic ars tor 1S50, is stated at §1,013,- 
836,403, which represents, aecorcling to that statement, a profit of 
something like 43 per cent, upon the entire capital employed in those 
pursuits, lor ial)or, f)r raw material, machinery and fixtures. Deduct 
fiom this the amount exported abroad, and the residue is the product 
of supply t(jr the home demand. If this demand be measured by num- 
bers, then the share of the norihern contederacy would be about 
^600,000,000, but according to the table, the actual division gives therr 
more than $600,000,000. Here, then, is an annual profit of something 
like S200,0U0,000, which is due to the Union. 

To this is to be added an item whose value to the North we have no 
means to measure, even approximately — I mean the cotton trade. 
With the exception of specie, there is no commodity yet known to 
trade which is so capable of being made the basis of an enlarged 
system of credits. The cotton bale is an almost universal bill of ex- 
diange ; there are few markets in the world where it is not to be sold 
for the costs of production and transportation, and a reasonable profit 
upon them. This fact, and the regularity of its supply, have given it 



12 

a capacity to conslitnte a basis for exchange such as no other com- 
modily save specie has ever possessed. 

Now the advantages of that vast system of credits go mainly to the 
American centre of trade — to your own great city — which is not only 
the centre of American commerce, but is destined to become the centre; 
of trade and exchange for the world, if this Union should last long 
enough to enable her to fulfil her destiny. In this- estimate of the 
material losses which the North would experience if the Union were 
dissolved, I have leftout some important it< ms. The employment ranked 
in the census as that of commerce is especially so. The general pros- 
tration of credit and commerce, which a dissolution of the Union might 
occasion, I have not considered. I have said nothing either of the; 
chances of commercial rivalry on the part of the South ; I have 
referred only to some of the leading items, whose importance may be 
estimated when they are considered along with the fact that the whole 
property, real and personal, of the United States, is computed only at 
$7,000,000,000. 

So far I have only considered the pecuniary risks ; but the actual loss 
of political power which the North would suffer, in such an event, is a 
matter which involves considerations of as much or more magnitude 
than the other. As the Union now stands, the povi^er of the g.overnment 
is in the hands of the free States. They have the majority everywhere 
in both branches of Congress, -^nd in the electoral college, which 
makes the President. If they should choose to do so, they could wield 
the whole power of the government; whatever strengthens that, 
strengthens them. In that point of view, the strength which the South 
adds to the general government adds also to their own. As things 
now stand, they may wield not only their own power, but ol"ten that 
of the minority also. Divide the Union, and they are limited to the 
strength of the free States alone. Nay, this is the best view of the 
question, which supposes the confederacies to be friendly. If they 
were hostile, then her strength would be measured by the difference 
between the two. Such are the losses to which the North would be 
exposed by a dissolution of the Union in that view of the case; but 
those who are seeking to press you to extreme measures take another 
view of the question. They say Uiat the South could not successtially 
resist, and in the end must 'submit. That is certainly very opposite to 
my opinion upon the subject; but for argument's sake let us suppose it 
to be so. 

Suppose that in the event of resistance you had conquered the slave 
States; what would you do with them? There is no provision in the 
Constitution for holding de})endent provinces. You would have to 
change that, and your form of government, too, to effect such an object. 
But suppose you could do it, there are the two races together; what 
would you do with th(MU? Repeat the West India experiment— convert 
the southern States into one great Jamaica, one vast Nigritia? What 
then would become of the vast commerce and rich customers who now 
contribute to your power and weahh? What, too, would be the con- 
sequences of the destruction of the great source of supply for that staple 
upon which so many people beyond the limits of the southern States 
depend for subsistence? Unless that race be subjected in some way to 
involuntary servitude in the South, either these consequences would 



13 

arise, or they would be exterminated, like the red man, in its competition 
with the white. Is either event a consummation to be desired? Could 
the free States derive any benefit, morally, pohlically, or socially, from, 
such results as these? 

But there is still another view^f this case. It is said that this sec- 
tional party might be placed in power, and administer the government 
upon their own principles, and still the South would remain in the 
tJnion. Suppose, then, lor argument sake, that this supposition were 
true. Take it, that they remained in the Union with a fixed sense of 
the injustice of its government, with a belief that in their cases its 
power would be used for purposes of offence, instead of defence, and 
that its patronage would be employed to breed and engender civil 
strife in thrir midst. They still preserve their votes, according to this 
supposition, which gives them nearl}' one-hall the power of the Senate. 
and more than one-third of that of the House of Representatives, and 
of the electoral colleges. How would that vote be thrown — to aid and 
Bup[)ort such a government, or to embarrass and thwart it ? How 
long, under such circumstances, would the government continue to be 
a practicable machine? So great an obstruction as this constantly 
interposed in its way would destroy any representative government. 
Ours could hardly endure through one presidential term. 

Now the moral and conclusion from all these arguments is, that the 
North has an immense power in this confederacy, and that this power 
is constantly increasing, and that it will continue to increase if they 
will only use it with moderation, and not abuse it for the purpose of 
wrong and injustice. Upon what consideration is it, 1 ask, fellow- 
citizens, that you should expose this Union and Constitution to these 
great risks? it is not ll)r the purpose of giving the patronage, office, 
and spoils of the government lo certain men. That would be a poor 
-view to take of so great a subject. Would it be for the purpose of 
bringing into the Ugion Kansas as a free State? What is there in the 
present condition of things there to which the people of the North 
could object? The principle of the Kansas and Nebraska bill leaves it 
as a popular question for consideration between the North and South. 

Is the North afraid of its power of colonization ? Does it not believe 
that it has equal chances with the South in regard to that matter? 
Nobody wishes to f )rce slavery into Kansas. In pomt of fact, so far 
as this question of northern power is concerned, the introduction of 
Kansas, whether it comes in as a slave or free State, could hardly 
alFect the (juestion of norihern power, which has a relative superiority 
now. The North has increased largely with every census. Look at 
the Territories which have come in as free States; look at the fact 
that the' population of the North increases more annually by the addi- 
tion of the tbreign emigration than the whole amount of the increase 
of the negro population of the Union. Under such circumstances is it 
not obvious that the present superiority, and, in point of fact, the poli- 
tical power of the North in the government must continue to increase? 

Let things staad as they are at present, and this power must continue to grow. 
It is perfectly certain that nothing can prevent or interrupt this growth if the 
North do not use their power for sectional and unjust purposes, which, in the end, 
if persisted in, will destroy the Union itself. Why, you could not hold ten millions 
of people in subjection anywhere in the United States upon such terras. Our 
forefathers were not three millions of people, and they, for the most part, consisted 



14 

of slave owners; but they resisted the power of the British crown. You may rely " 
upon it, that reason will find itself capable of rulingf a people of that strength^' 
]5!aced as the southern people are, if they choose to resist. ••' 

In the one way your gain is certain, no matter what be the result of the Kansas 
question ; in the other, you may risk everything. You have the power now and 
legitimately, and with the consent of the South, if you use it justly ; but if you 
attempt to abuse it for sectional purposes, you expose vast interests to the risks and 
hazards of a contest which can eventuate in no way without some loss of power 
to the free States, and which might end in the dei^truction of both parties in the 
conflict. I can think of uo calculation of chances which would justify the North 
in trying the fearful experiuient of administering this government not only with- 
out a southern man in its counsels, but in opposition to the essential interest, and 
it raav be, to the peace of the South itself. 

But, fellow-citizens, I wish this matter to be impressed upon you, that if the 
N'orth pursues the plan proposed of standing by the Constitution and the Union, 
a^ is urged upon you by the great democratic party, which holds its residence all 
over this vast confederacy, then your advance in power is certain and sure. The 
only thing that can risk or endanger it is to follow the counsels of those men who 
claim to be the particular friend* of the North and the opponents of slavery, but 
who would iuiperil, and perhaps destroy, the Union. Is the State of New York to 
be asked to expense herself to such risk as that ? What State in the Union has so 
mighty an interest in its preservation and continuance? 

Surely, if there be any one State which would risk more than another in such 
an experiment, it is this, the empire State of the North. Yours is the queen 
city of the West, which sits enthroned on the shores of yonder beautiful bay, with 
one hand on the ocean and the other on the lakes, to gather wealth from both. 
No wind can blow that does not waft to her upon the wave the rich tribute of 
commerce from some distant clime or some neighboring State. The very snows 
of hfcaven, which benumb the arm of industry m so many places, only seem to 
give her access to hyperborean regions, and open to her Artie and Antartit; stores. 
1 know of nothing in the magnifi'^ence of the great cities of the dead or living of 
the East or West, of the old world or the new, of the present or the past — nothing in 
the creations of mediceval commerce, or of the present age, which can excel or 
even equal the probable future of your great city, if this Union sliould endure. 
Are all these hopes and prospects to be risked for such considerations as are pre- 
sented to you m the election of a sectional candidate ? 

Fellow-citizens, dark days are indeed before us, if those who possess the im- 
mense power of such a government as ours can be found capable of using it so 
recklessly and wildly as from some quarters they are exhorted to do. When I 
look forward to the possible consequences of this mad course of aciion, I am filled 
with anxiety, not because I believe the southern States cannot and will not defend 
themselves if the sad necessity should ari?e, but because I wish to preserve tlfo 
Union, and save this great scheme of human society. It is but a few m.onths since 
tlie anniversary of our Independence passed over our heads; the sun of that morn- 
ing rose upon more than twenty-three millions of American j^eople, who united 
within themselves more of the elements of social strength and individual happiness 
than were ever combined in the same number of persons before. The country was 
adorned with the rich monuments of an industry which seemed to have been 
d'rected with an energy and a skill almost superhuman. Fair and stately cities 
crowned the shores of the seas and the borders of the rivers. The land smiled 
with happy homesteads which sent up as incense to Heaven the smoke of millions 
oi" household fires, kindled on as many altars, which had been consecrated to peace 
aiid all the domewtic virtues. The husbandman went forth to sow his seed or plant 
his tree, in perfect confidence that he or his descendents would gather the fruit. 
The mariiier plowed the seas, and looked proudly aloft to the stars and stripes, the 
emblems of his country's presence and of a jurisdiction which followed him, and 
could cover and protect him in the most disiaot climes. The young mother re- 
oiced that her man-child was born into the woild, because she knew that when he 



15 

arriv,2d at years of discretion he miglit take any one of a thousand roads which 
•would had him through this haj)py land to wealth or to honor. The old man 
descendid willingly to the tomb, and closed his eyes in peace, in the belief that he 
was hiHvitigthis fair scene as a perpetual inheritance to be enjoyed by his children 
and their defcendent.s. And upon what reposed this grand scheme of human 
happiness? It rested on the faiih felt by our people that they would contiinie to 
live under the Constitution, and the equal laws which it enjt)ined, in the conlidence 
thev reposed in the sense of justice and mutual aifvction of each other. 

But, fellow-citizens, the serpent has crept into that land of delight. He under- 
■tands the secret of the chaiin. an(J well knowa that to scatter ruin he nuist distroy 
tlie mutual conti ience upon which so much happiness depends; accordingly he has 
been busy at work. 

II w long the mutual confidence of our people can withstand such attempts to 
destroy it, I know not. But if th«)8e f«-elings should be des'.royed, this great scheme of 
hajipiness, this vast fabric of human society, must dissolve anil perish. The skeletx . 
outline may, indeed, remain, but ius harmonious coloring will fade away, its beam\ 
of proportion will disappear, and its graco of motion and its charm of life will hu- 
come extinct. Whether there be anything short of power divine which can caui^ 
the«e dry bones. to livo again, or reluino \vith light and life the. inanimate form, I 
cannot say. liut this I can sjty, lh«l if there be any lumian means of ngeneratioa 
fur nations that have decayed, or social systems that have become etT.ie, history 
has not, as yet, recorded them. 

Fellow-ciiizons, it is in the power of thi* empire State to preserve the Constitu- 
tion and the Union from the perils which threaten it. She has but to will it, and 
ahe can do it. Will she not strike the blow which may save the country? Is it 
not time that, from a sense of common danger, the good men of all parties had 
united for the sak« of the Union ! Or, if no such union can be formed, then iet 
tlie democracy of this great State do the work. Bo theirs the glorious task. But 
to do it, they must close up their squares and re form their squadrons at onc«. 
Let tljera move up and rally round the flag of their country. Not that mutilated 
banner which has been dism»niberid of nearly half its stars, but the Hag of their 
fathers and the Union, in which every State still finds its emblem, and in which 
every heart may fi.x its love. Bui there must be no divided camp. It will not do 
for one army to look on tVom the hill while another is doing battle on the plain. 
I care not \vlicther Fabius shall go to Miiiucius, or Minacius return to Fabius, but 
the lioman armies must unite tor the s;ike of Kome itself, to save the tacred city 
from the grasp of the wily Carlhagenian. 

In the'closing struggle of the Revolution, at the siege of York, in ray native 
S.ate, it was a New Yorker who led the American column of attack upon the 
liritish redoubt. All that was won there may again be put at stake in the great civil 
contest in which we are now engaged. She is the empire Sate — let her take the 
lead once more. Advance ever as she may, right behind her she will hear the steady 
tramp of the great democratic host pressing on to cover and to aid her. At the battle 
oi' the Pyramids, Napoleon bade his troops remrmber that forty centuries of the pai*t 
looked down from their heights upon their deeds in arms. I know not how many 
cenuirits which now li« hii in the invisible depths of the future may look back to 
a happy result in this civil contest, with praise and gratitude. There have been 
well stricken fields, so stricken that they rioated in human blood ; and w^ell fought 
battles, fought until it might almost be said that armies whole had perished, whose 
consequences were not half so important as those which may tiow liom the result 
d this civil struggle, bloodless though it be. 

It is said to be a time honored custom in the British army to allow each regi- 
ment to inscribe upon its tiag the name and date of lue battle in which it was dis- 
tinguished. May it be the glory of the deinocratic column of this S;ate to write 
Hfon theirs, the fourth day of November, 1856, in commemoration of the fact 
tliat it had emerged from the smoke and storm of battle, beating the sacred ark of 
the Constituliou and the Union in their arms, to place it so high above the assaults 



16 

of its enemies, that hereafter the shafts which may be aimed against it will fall as 
harmless beneath its base as the arrows that are discharg^ed in the face of the sun. 
Fellov?-ciLizens, I will not permit myself to harbor the fear of defeat. I place 
my trust in the great conservative democratic party of the country — ;that party 
which seems capable of elevating itself to a sufficient height to take in the whole 
horizon of a sectional question — that party v/hich, in all times of trial and difficulty, 
has interposed and been ever able as yet to save the country. That they have been 
defeated at times is true ; Ihey sometimes returned from the field with 

" Broken squares and banners torn," 
and thfciselves 

" Battle tossed and worn." 

But they have never been broken in spirit, and never so broken in ranks but that 
they could and did return to the charge in time to save the country. The trial is 
not yet bayond their strength ; they can save it again, and they vy\\\ do it. If the 
'*ip'^of State weathers this storm, hereafter it will ride easily upon the billow, ready 
to make its world-wide voyage to spread American influence in distant lands, and 
by the moral power of a great example, to give a new impulse to the forv\'ard 
movement of the human races. Shall we di-^appoint this high destiny ? shall we 
fail to fulfil our mighty mission, and hear a wondrous tale of human greatness still 
untold, b cause we choose rather to waste our strength in civil strife ? Ephraine 
against Judah, and Judah warring against Ephraine, while the Asyrian and the 
Mede despoil b :'th. In such a contest as this, can there be any doubt where the 
empire State will be found ? 

During the war of the Revolution, there was no military object to which Wash- 
ington clunir with so much tenacity as that of d<-fending the highlands and the 
line of the Hudson. It was the greatest stratagic line of the Union, behind 
which its communications were easy and sure. Accordingly, he planted it thick 
with bayonets, and, where he could do so, crowned its heights with cannon. If the 
British seized upon a post which threatened its integrity, he sent '' Mad Anthony " 
to storm it ; if they sought to obtain another through treachery, he hung the spy 
who attempted it ; if he found that those who manned the line were relaxing in 
their vigilance, he despatched Putnam to watch them, well knowing that he would 
keep all wide awake who were around him ; if the enemy organized an expedirioja 
in their northern provinces to rake this line in the reverse, he was willing to strip 
himself to the last man and the last gun to capture and destroy it. 

In the darkest hours of the Revolution, and amid its severest trials and difiicul- 
ties, he made good his possession of that line. Fellow-citizens, it is still a great 
strategic point, and may again turn out to be that of chief interest. What shall 
I say "of it in the Old Dominion, when they shall ask me the news from the 
empire State? That I left the democracy of the State in possession of the high- 
lands, and that they mean to hold on to the line of the Union ! If the democracy 
of the empire State will undertake to make good their possession of this great 
point, how many partriots throughout the land will hold up their hands, like the 
prophets of old, for a blessing upon their efforts. v 

But, fellow-citizens, I mustdraw to a close, I felt that there was so much which 
ought to be said, and which I was unable to say, that I hiive been brought into 
idle repetition in the vain elibrt to say those things, of which so many, after all, 
have been left unsaid. 



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